Think of a time when you disappointed yourself. I’m talking that dark place you hide away from the world. It’s made of the stuff that you don’t want to admit exists in others let alone in yourself. It’s dark and tar like and sticks to you no mater what you do. It can cause that lump in your throat, clenching of teeth, that soreness in your stomach.

Imagine that every moment you have ever felt like that came flooding in at once. It would be crippling to say the least.

Now shift that thought to a perspective of the same pain but it’s cause is no longer all yours. This time it’s coming from disappointment in you child. The pain is amplified and add in the guilt that you may have played a part in their misdeeds. Finally, take that times the amount of children you have and it all hits you at once. How do you move forward from there? Could you? Would it be unbearable? Could you have a heart attack or stroke due to this? I imagine it would be possible.

I have to imagine this is part of what Jesus felt. Remember though the pain you could imagine in the situation above is amplified by every person that ever lived and will ever live. That’s anguish and pain multiplied by billions and billions. (Estimates run between 15 and 150 billion have or are living to date) And all of it served up to one man in one day while he was

MOCKED

HARASSED

BETRAYED

DENIED

BEATEN

BROKEN

BLEEDING

LIED ABOUT

TEMPTED

FALSELY ACCUSED

CONDEMNED

WHIPPED

LAUGHED AT

FLESH PIERCED

FORSAKEN

ABANDONED

Yet he TRIUMPHED! He loved and showed love through it all even as he died on the cross he asked that his mother be taken care of and forgave the criminal hanging on the cross next to him assuring him that, that very day he would see him in paradise.

This is the power of the Lord our God! He can overcome what we cannot even begin to imagine.

That is love that knows no limit!

That is peace that surpasses all understanding!

May we find ourselves endlessly thankful for Jesus today and always.